When Bad Things Happen To Drunk People
by Ivy Assiah
Summary: Drinking is the only thing that keeps Adia sane, the only thing that keeps her from seeing the things that she’d rather not see. Unfortunately, when a young man named Kouji enters into her life and Houjun Ri...
1. Default Chapter

"When Bad Things Happen to Drunk People"

Summary: Drinking is the only thing that keeps Adia sane, the only thing that keeps her from seeing the things that she'd rather not see. Unfortunately, when a young man named Kouji enters into her life and Houjun Ri moves into the "haunted" apartment across from her…it just might not be enough.

* * *

For Houjun Ri, Friday night consisted of a microwavable dinner and sitting curled up with a book on the windowsill, the only place to sit that wasn't the floor in the living room of his new apartment. The walls were thin and he could hear dull thumping of someone's subwoofer, a party was taking place somewhere in the complex, no doubt.

"Daaa..." he sighed, putting his book down for the nth time that evening and warily looking around the room. For some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. That was ridiculous, though. He was the only person in his apartment. He turned to the window and looked at the street below him. It was empty as well, except for the couple underneath one of the street lamps. He was fairly certain they weren't interested in what he was doing.

Houjun returned to his book.

Elsewhere in the complex, a young woman took a swig from her rum-and-coke filled water bottle and glared at the party-goers through her alcoholic haze. She had only been at the party for fifteen minutes and already she wanted to go home. Adia was only eighteen, but getting trashed every night had-surprise, surprise-- ceased to be entertaining. At least with these people.

"I'm going to go get some air or something." she muttered to her friend and walked out, away from the pulsating music and the undesirable company. The night seemed heavy for some reason. The same kind of heavy she felt right now, the kind that was associated with the word "drunk". Her vision was starting to blur, too, she noticed with a smug sort of satisfaction as she stumbled out the door and down the hall, towards her own apartment. Tonight, at least, she wouldn't have to see anything she didn't like.

Adia woke up with a pretty bad headache to begin with. It must have been solar powered, however, because when she opened her eyes the sunlight filtering through the blinds made it about a thousand times worse.

Something had died in her mouth the night before, and the t-shirt she had slept in was completely soaked in something she **hoped** was sweat. She knew it wasn't as soon as the smell of dried vomit attacked her a few seconds later.

"Ugh. I really have to stop drinking." she said, quickly pulling off the shirt and tossing it into a wastebasket on the other side of the room. After dragging herself off of the bed her sheets met the same fate.

A shower was definitely in order.

Unfortunately, this was how Adia usually started the weekend.

The dark-skinned girl walked into the living room as she toweled off her light brown hair. Multi-tasking was one of her specialties.

"Kouji?" she called, surprised when her "guest" wasn't sprawled out over the couch like he had been every morning on the month since she "found" him. Closer inspection revealed that he hadn't been back at all that night, the blanket he used still haphazardly piled on the edge of the couch like it was the moment before.

Which could only mean one thing…

"Oh shit. The party."

Her hair still damp, Adia grabbed her keys and rushed out of the door.

"Daaa!" she heard a man cry out as she exited her apartment. She turned towards the stairs just in time so see a young man stumble over the top step and drop a very large box in front of him.

"Uh...need some help?" Adia asked, deciding to play good Samaritan. He was kind of cute.

"Yes, thank you no da!" His gravity-defying bangs bobbed up and down. Okay, kind of crazy. But still cute.

"Adia, actually." she knelt in front of him, gathering the books that had tumbled out when the box fell.

"I guess we're going to be neighbors." he said, smiling. "I'm Houjun."

"How unfortunate." she smiled briefly, before dropping the last book into his box. "I wouldn't want to live in that apartment." She glanced backwards at the formerly vacant apartment across the hall from hers.

"What's wrong with my apartment no da?" he called after her, but she was already heading down the stairs.

Houjun frowned as he stared after her, "That was kind of mean..."

As soon as he entered Apartment 206 a very strange, very uncomfortable feeling washed over him. He carefully set the box down when a chill ran down his spine. Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat he looked around warily. Something else was definitely in here, he could feel it. Closing his eyes and murmuring a quick prayer, the feeling passed. Houjun ran a hand through his short brown hair and looked around, satisfied that the apartment was empty--for now, at least.

"How'd you get in?" Adia groaned, trudging into her apartment later that day. Her "guest", Kouji, had once again entered the apartment without a key of any sort. It was mind-boggling, and kind of scary. The blue-haired man was leaning against the stove frying an egg, clad only in a pair of low-riding leather pants. The same thing he wore to the party the night before, if she wasn't mistaken.

"That's all? No 'Hello, Kouji my love'?" he grinned, cracking an egg over the skillet.

"So…what happened last night?" she asked instead of answering her question.

He shrugged, "Just kind of passed out at that girl's house. You didn't open the door when I got here, so I just let myself in."

She sighed as she tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and regarded the man sitting in front of her, devouring his afternoon-breakfast with such gusto. He had only been in this world a month, or so he said, and already he seemed to have such an amazing grasp of how everything worked.

It was actually a month ago today, since she found him prowling around the park outside, dressed in strange clothes and searching for someone named "Genrou". At first she thought he was crazy…until she saw the intensity of the light that surrounded him.

That was crazy in and of itself, she realized, to be seeing "auras" and a host of other things that most people couldn't-and probably didn't want to- see. Sometimes she saw things that really frightened her…and she hated it. Which is where the heavy drinking came in. For some reason, when she was inebriated, she could turn off that sort of "receptor" she had, and block it all out. No auras. No spirits. No visions. And that's the way she liked it.

A brief flicker of light behind Kouji, like a match being lit, distracted Adia for a moment and she looked away. "It's called breaking and entering." she mumbled, trying to look everywhere but Kouji.

"Adia..." he trailed off, noticing her strange behavior. "Oh...you want a beer?" She nodded, and couldn't help but sneak a peek at his retreating figure. A fuzzy halo of light seemed to surround him, the more she stared the more it intensified until it seemed like he was being engulfed by flames. Beautiful flames of red and gold.

"Thanks." she said, squeezing her eyes shut and chugging half of the frosty brew immediately. When she opened them the bright light was gone...and she had a good buzz going.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm going to try not to make this a typical OC gets sucked into the UOTFG and falls in love blah blah blah. I don't really foresee there being much romance in this story at all...but who knows. Okay, please review 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: you know what's up.

Chapter 2

A few hours after the sun had set Houjun had finished unpacking, his belongings now strewn across the floor of the apartment. Despite the mess, his apartment still looked bare. The movers he had paid to ship his furniture had yet to arrive, despite the fact that they had been scheduled to have been there early in the morning.

The walls were bare except for an antique mirror that he had bought a few years earlier from a flea market. He was transfixed by the intricate design etched into the moment he saw it. It depicted a great bird, possibly a phoenix, rising from a flame and encircling the glass. He had to have it. Unfortunately, the mirror had a tendency to hang crooked so Houjun was having to constantly re-adjust it.

A bright light that was reflecting in the mirror caught his attention, he whirled around surprised--even more so when he was facing a dark living room.

"What the--" a loud tapping sound above him cut him off. He thought that perhaps it could be his vertical neighbors, but then he realized that he lived on the top floor. The only thing above him was the attic…

The tapping came again, louder. "Probably just a…rat…or something." he reassured the empty room.

Baseball bat in hand, Houjun went to investigate. He pushed the hatch open without much trouble, coughing a bit as dust and possibly asbestos drifted out from the attic. Pulling himself up was a bit harder, but he managed, listening intently in the darkness as he waited for his eyes to adjust. A small amount of light from the street lamps was filtering in through the small dust-covered window so Houjun walked towards it, rubbing most of the dust off with his shirtsleeve. It cast the small room in an eerie yellow glow, illuminating the … nothing. Houjun looked around confused, the attic was empty. There wasn't anything that could have explained the tapping sound he'd heard. Well, almost nothing. To his right a large leather-bound book lay, covered in the dust that appeared to cover everything else. Curious, Houjun picked it up, blowing off the dust.

"Well, I don't think you made the noise no da." he told it, examining the cover. "The…Universe of the Four Gods." It sounded sort of familiar, perhaps the name of a story he'd heard as a boy.

He flipped it open, reading the first page aloud to himself. "This is the story of a girl who, upon acquiring the seven stars of Suzaku, made all of her wishes come true." he smiled slightly, it sounded like a fairytale. He flipped through the pages, surprised when a small Polaroid fell out. A smiling girl with a bun on either side of her head stared up at him, surrounded by seven men dressed in odd costumes. He dropped the picture in shock when he saw a face not unlike his own standing next to her. The resemblance was uncanny…if he didn't know better he would have sworn that it was himself.

Looking around warily, he shoved the picture back in the middle of the book . With it tucked underneath his arm, he headed back downstairs.

The rest of his night was spent reading the tome. Time passed quickly, he was so engrossed in the story. Why anyone would leave a book like this behind was beyond him.

"Excuse me, Miss Adia, may I ask you something?"

"Sure." Adia smiled, she seemed in a much better mood than she had when he first met her.

"Who lived in my apartment before I did?"

Her expression dropped suddenly. "Why? Been seeing things?"

"No…nothing like that, I'm just curious."

"A married couple and their son. A woman named Miaka and her husband, Taka. I never knew the child's name."

Houjun's heart was pounding in his ears, Miaka was the name of the girl in the book! The girl in the picture!

"And their last name?" he pressed.

"Sukusomething…Sukunami. Miaka and Taka Sukunami."

He was relieved and disappointed at the same time. It was just a coincidence that they had the same name. "What happened to them?"

A thoughtful expression crossed Adia's face, "Miaka and Taka…they died. On the same day, I think, it was very strange. Their daughter moved somewhere. What's with all of the questions? "

"Just curious." Houjun repeated, smiling. "Thanks."

"Hey, Adia--" a look of shock and disbelief crossed Kouji's face when he poked his head out of the door. "You…" he said, pointing at Houjun.

"Yes?"

"…Nevermind."

Adia watched the exchange in confusion, it seemed as if Kouji recognized Houjun.

"He was asking a bunch of questions about the Miaka woman that used to live in his apartment." Adia related the tale to Kouji as she brushed the young man's hair.

"Miaka…" suddenly something clicked. "That was the name of Genrou's friend! The priestess of Suzaku!"

"The who ha?" Adia stopped brushing and looked at him quizzically. She really didn't understand what he was talking about half of the time. "Well…maybe he knows your friend, too."


End file.
